


Absolute Silence

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [65]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-01-11 12:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1173343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The end comes not with a bang or a whimper, but with no sound at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absolute Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Romana, at the end of the Time War  
> Prompt: End  
> Alternate Universe: NOS

The end comes not with a bang or a whimper, but with no sound at all. A strange, deafening silence that makes her stagger, and cling tightly to the rail of her TARDIS. She's barely aware she's fallen to her knees, only aware of the absolute silence in her mind where there's always been something. Never voices, never so distinct, but the constant hum of the presence of her people.

Now, there is nothing, and she is alone. Terribly alone in a sense she had never imagined she would be, even as she worked feverishly on the Doctor's final plan to end the war. To lock it all away where it couldn't tear the universe apart.

It should have been him to take the final step, to make the final seal, but he'd never had the chance. Never been allowed to take the chance, and had sacrificed his life to make sure there _was_ an opportunity for her to take that last step, even as he told her he would return in time. Offering up her people as well as the Daleks to save the universe from destruction.

Would that she could have followed them, but she could not lock it from the inside, only from the outside, and there was no one else they could trust to do this.

Dragging herself to her feet, Romana sets coordinates on her TARDIS, and manages to land herself safely before she stumbles into the back, and finds her bed. Tumbling into a sleep that she will later suspect is only nightmare-free because her TARDIS is interfering.

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to be writing this AU backwards, because each story has been set before the previous one. I'm not actually sure the Doctor knew he was sacrificing himself for Romana's chance to escape at first, but by the time she activates the time lock, he would have known he couldn't return to the TARDIS in time. Romana is unlikely to ever find out what happened that he never joined her. She might, however, find out she isn't alone, because I think the Master is still at the end of the universe, just waiting to be found out.


End file.
